Saturday, June 30, 2007

... according to the official user's manual supplied by Kymco, anyway. I know there are some "hard break-in" proponents out there, but what the hell -- the manual says to do it this way (at 300km), so I do it this way.

I did the gear oil change, first. The photos of the final drive case in the user manual and in the shop manual (gleaned online here) both depict a completely different case configuration than what's on my Agility 125, with a drain plug that faces downward. If yours looks like mine, the photo above will help you figure out what's going on.

The oil that came out was a very dark, olive green in color... much darker than the SAE 80W90 that went back in (which was also greenish in tint, but looked more like extra virgin olive oil).

Yep, I overfilled the gearbox by about 100ml... so I waited. And waited. And waited... until it stopped weeping out of the filler hole. It's easy to overfill, since there's no damn way you can see back in there to see how full the gearbox is. Since the manual says, "... to the bottom edge of the fill hole," I figure once it stops weeping out while on the center stand, on level ground, it's as full as it should be. :)

The engine oil change was a piece of cake, except for breaking loose the drain plug... holy shit. That thang was put on with an impact wrench, I have no doubt. I eventually broke it loose standing on the short-handled wrench from my socket set -- there was very little room between the center stand and the handle to get any leverage, but the bolt came loose, finally, unmolested.

All is well, but the idling issue remains... I have the idle screw turned inward as far as it will go, but it's having no effect -- the engine will die if some throttle isn't applied. I'll be e-mailing James about this, tonight..

This morning's ride was rougher than I expected. The first stop, the engine died. The second stop, the engine died. I pulled off, put the scooter on the center stand, and adjusted the idle set screw a couple of turns clockwise*, which resolved the problem, but I may have to monkey with it a bit more over the next few days. I'll keep you posted.

* Now, I'm no gearhead... but it's amazing how sensible some of these things are, once you get a look at 'em. In this case, the idle set screw simply sets the minimum amount of throttle possible, and is pushing against tension put on it by the throttle return spring. Simple!.

Thursday, June 28, 2007

I left work at exactly 4:24 (for some reason, our timesheets have to be in tenths of hours... don't ask me why), and made it home at 4:53 (lots of traffic lights got me), with about three minutes to spare before the clouds opened up with a vengeance. At least I had time to whip out the cover and get it on, securely.

Of course, I keep an eye on the radar throughout the day, and had let my boss know that I may be heading out prior to 5:00 if the weather threatened a safe commute. Hey, it's skin off my nose... or wallet, I should say. Yep, I'm an hourly serf. :)

Oh -- special thanks to Scott @ TallahasseeScooters, a nice blog written by a guy with a Piaggio LT 150. He's the first and only one to link to me... I will be posting a list of good non-Kymco scooter sites sometime this weekend, and Scott's will definitely be there..

Yep -- it wasn't my imagination. I had to try it out, just to make sure, so I let that needle drop to "E" and beyond (and you'll know why I felt confident doing that in a minute). Sure enough, the "ding!ding!ding!" sound came on this afternoon, again as I was leaving work. It had to be me, 'cause there wasn't anything nearby that could have made the sound.

I was looking at my bank statement, online, and noticed $1.45 to "Tri-Star Energy" listed. Hmmm. I couldn't recall spending that little on my debit card anywhere. Turns out that was the day (a week ago) I thought I'd pumped 1.45 gallons into tank, when it must have been more like 0.5 gallons. :)

I checked the fuel level, visually, this morning, shaking the tail of the scooter while I eyeballed the fuel sloshing around. Oh, there was plenty of gas in there, even though the needle was reading nearly "E."

After leaving work today, I should have thought to shut the engine off, and start it again, to see if the "ding!ding!ding!" would repeat to remind me to get gas -- even though in reality, I had between a half- and a third-gallon of fuel, remaining. I guess it's better that the gauge be off in the pessimistic direction than the other way, hm? :) But dang... 1/3 gallon is nearly a quarter-tankful in this machine!

So, for the week, (exactly a week between fill-ups) I drove 141.6km (~88 miles) on just under a gallon of gas. I seem to be getting around 92 mpg. Dang... and it isn't even fully broken in, yet.How do you like THEM apples?

Oh, also, on the way back home, I sighted a huge dude (must've been 325 lbs.) haulin' ass though my neighborhood on what had to be a souped-up, bug-eyed Zuma... in classic hurt-your-eyes Team Yamaha Blue. We tootled at one another as we passed. :).

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Another beautiful morning, with forecast scattered afternoon thunderstorms. My co-worker convinced me to leave at 4:30, to beat the rain. I did, and... I did. By about five minutes. Not a drop on the face shield.

On eBay, for $50 less than I'd seen it anywhere else, and it's brand new, too. Unfortunately, it has the orange trim rather than the grey, but for $50, I think I can live with that... for less than half retail..

Monday, June 25, 2007

Wet, nervy ride home. I was in an all-day meeting (that actually broke up around 3:15), and at 7:20 this morning, the skies were clear. I knew there was a 40% chance of scattered showers and thunderstorms. I took the chance, since I wanted to get into the office before the big meeting started, just to make some handouts, etc. It didn't stop raining until about 5:20, so at that point, I pulled off the cover, got on the scoot, and rode... slowly, cautiously. It only took me about seven minutes longer than usual, but safety first, eh? Fortunately, I know where every metal grate and plate in the road is between here and there. Slow. Careful..

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Very little riding today, too. Got breakfast, returned my DVD, and came home and started some more laundry. Then, the storm clouds started rolling in. It took a while before finally raining, but rain it did. Scooter is covered, of course.

I don't expect to roll again, this evening; other things to do. Life is good..

Didn't go far, today. Just over to the local McDonald's, to rent Breach from the Redbox machine, and to the grocery store to get some SNPA and frozen pizza. Threatening storms canceled my trip to Madison to visit the landlord, today. That would have been a massive ride, considering the circuitous path I would have taken to get into the backwoods, windy roads.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Rode to/from work, and to the grocery, then waited for my Mom and her husband to get here from Texas. They were just stopping by to buy me a birthday dinner on the way through to Kentucky, where she's going to visit an ailing friend. However, they had a bit of fan belt trouble around Jackson, TN, so that put them getting here later than dinnertime, so we've postponed the dinner until their return trip on July 5th..

Saturday, June 16, 2007

While I shop for a good deal for a Shad or Binetto top case, in the meantime, this will be my grocery-getter: A $2.99 plastic crate from that fancy French store, Target. Oh, and a couple of fat cord bungees, of course..

Friday, June 15, 2007

First real fill-up, today. Surprisingly, there's a little audible alert when the fuel gets low. My perplexing problem: The specs say the tank will hold 1.32 gallons, but I pumped 1.45 gallons in (making me wonder how accurate the fuel dispensing equipment is), and the fuel gauge isn't at 100%. Unlike the Vino, the filler neck of the Agility is a perfect fit for the fuel nozzle, so it's tough to gauge how full the tank is when re-fueling (and if you've ever put gas for your lawnmower in a little can, you know how tough it is to make the fuel flow slowly enough into that to keep from overflowing and making a mess, eh?).